Because if we're going to try and stop the misuse of our favorite comics and their protagonists by the companies that write and publish them, we've got to see what both the printed and online comics news is doing wrong. This blog focuses on both the good and the bad, the newspaper media and the online websites. Unabashedly. Unapologetically. Scanning the media for what's being done right and what's being done wrong.

Wednesday, August 02, 2017

Manufactured milkshakes?

It looks like Marvel's staffers are in the process of manufacturing more fake controversy to obscure the grave mistakes they've been making for much of the past 2 decades, by fabricating a case not unlike the one involving Chelsea Cain. The UK Telegraph says that a Marvel editor named Heather Antos was supposedly harassed over uploading a selfie of her and a few other female employees while drinking milkshakes:

For the crime of consuming cold beverages while being female, Antos was then attacked across social media and via email and her Twitter direct messages by angry Marvel fans, who used the image as an opportunity to rant about "Social Justice Warriors", "fake geek girls" and feminism.

First, the paper posted a number of the replies posted to hers, but only one looked crude while the rest looked pretty mild as putdowns. And when I took a look at the replies posted to the whole thread, I couldn't seem to find any more that looked revolting either. Which brings us to the case in point: evidently, the editors and their media backers are trying to delegitimize anybody who considers SJW mentality and feminism a bad influence. And since when was consuming cold beverages ever a big deal? I don't care for milkshakes myself (I prefer orange/apple/grape juice whenever possible), but I have no issues with anybody dining on that exotic mixture either.

It's not hard to guess there's some people out there in the know about the books Ms. Antos and company work on, and that they're not the classics the MSM would have you believe they were, and that, saddest of all, they're rife with social justice propaganda. Let me guess: one of them worked on the Jane Foster-as-Thor nonsense, right? But never tried to get Mary Jane Watson restored as Peter Parker's wife? That would say all we need to know about where they really stand, and it's with the paychecks.

Notice that the article points to "Marvel fans" as the allegedly seething bunch. It's the same tactic as was used against the Gamergate supporters. Basically, they're implying each and every person, old and new to Marvel fandom, are nothing but scumbags. In that case, what's the use of having a comics industry at all? The reporters have only verified they're not Marvel fans either.

Predictably, they ignore that there were women who worked in comicdom years before (Ann Nocenti being a prime example), the citation of Flo Steinberg notwithstanding, and that the politics of the current contributors could have what to do with any disapproval. I looked at the comments on this Yahoo page, and some had what to say:

When Marvel comics started they asked a question of what do comic readers want to read about and how can we make that exciting and new? Today's Marvel's millennial SJW staff ask what do critics think our readers should read about and how can we market it to less than 20% of our readers?

And however many women work at Marvel today, it's pretty obvious some of them are mega-SJWs. Another said:

The article doesn't even show photos of the harassment. Then they generalize the offenders as "The Men". What sort of backwards progessivism is this.

Yes, they don't even mention whether there's women out there who were turned off of Marvel because of the really awful steps they took with their universe and creations, right down to the aforementioned wife of Spidey.

Welcome to the era of the perpetually offended by everything.

Exactly the problem with the Marvel staffers desperate to paint Marvel fans as the biggest villains since Doctor Doom. All so they can try to dodge the critiques that they've desecrated the products in their care.

Reminds me of the Huffpost photo a ways back that should a room full of women with a couple tokens thrown in at the back. Yes, this is totally proof of where Marvel is going wrong. The people who read comics don't want anything made from these Starbucks chicks.

In fairness, I think the menfolk working there today are worse, but to be sure, we shouldn't underestimate the ability of any woman working for them to do just as bad a job. Another said:

Aww, can't handle the criticism for killing Marvel comic sales with forced diversity in a company that has had plenty of diverse characters for literal decades.

Many of which they've been throwing away, and lest we forget that DC did the same (they marginalized Linda Park West, for example, a character who's of Asian descent). Again, how come the wife of Spidey doesn't seem to register on the radars of any of the phonies involved? Tsk tsk. Nor does anybody seem to find it strange that only superheroes seem to matter as a platform for "diversity", and not co-stars or recurring cast members.

Given that Wonder Woman, Super Girl, Power Girl, Bat Girl, Zatanna, Vixen, Black Canary, Rogue, Storm, She Hulk, Black Widow and Wasp are still wildly popular characters, it's unlikely misogyny is a real problem in the industry. It is more likely that bad writing is the real problem.

To this, somebody else replied:

However, white men are obviously racist/sexist if they call them out for bad writing.

I'm sure they'd call black/Asian/Latino men awful things too if they thought they could get away with it. The whole "race card" act is just an illogical, irrelevant tactic the SJWs employ whenever somebody dares to voice a negative opinion of what they've written.

The "men" didn't get upset at "the women" for "working in the comic book industry". The comic book fans got mad at the comic book employees for deciding that "diversity" meant nothing but a bunch of white women with one token minority woman, then put 2 and 2 together and realized this was a big reason why the comic books have become SJW garbage over the last few years.

Rule 42 of the internet:
Any time a man criticizes a woman on the internet hes a troll. Anytime a woman criticizes a man on the internet she is empowered.

I'll bet J.K. Rowling favors that kind of belief too. For now, it's clear Marvel's not willing to stop with these manufactured controversies that are only a diversion tactic, meant to obscure the issue of the terrible scriptwriting by their current hack writers, who won't take criticism gracefully. And it's mostly the fault of the MSM, who've been siding with them nearly 100 percent against the dedicated fans, and have made it their mission to villify said fans after all the devotion they once offered. This is why many have abandoned the Big Two for what smaller publishers have to offer. Of recent, I've been wondering if even the case of former DC editor Janelle Asselin allegedly taking abuse on CBR's forums was manufactured, though I figure a lot of the cybertrolls who could've done what they claimed are products of the same left-liberal thought-school as the industry insiders they may have gone against.

Some may have heard of "snowflakes" (another synonym for SJWs). Now, we have milkflakes turning up alongside them.

Well, I guess I'll go for the obvious "There Will Be Blood" reference. "I drink your milkshake. I drink it up!"

If nothing else, at least I'm becoming aware of the "fake geek girl" issue within the actual comic companies, or affirmative action geekery. It won't last, as a lot of bloggers are wondering lately, what could happen when the current superhero movie fad/popularity ends. Think these mediocre female employees -- or, sorry, "Starbucks chicks", which fits them well -- will stay at Marvel, the rest of their lives?

Also, didn't know Guggenheim has a Muslim sister-in-law. I smirked at the wish-fulfillment line, given how the Guggenheims of the world, along with many others, are the reason we no longer have escapism in these various genres. He even said earlier in the piece, "Not to get political, but something that we all gravitated toward in the writers room was making this character Muslim." Okay, fine, go for the "Take That, Trump" casting, that's Guggenheim's right, but don't say it's part of "escapism", either.

I think it was Diversity & Comics who posed it, but what happens when even Marvel's SJW fanbase eventually moves on? Who is left to support the company, as Marvel has alienated everyone else? I don't know what the answer to that is, but I look forward to that day.

About me

I'm Avi Green

From Jerusalem, Israel

I was born in Pennsylvania in 1974, and moved to Israel in 1983. I also enjoyed reading a lot of comics when I was young, the first being Fantastic Four. I maintain a strong belief in the public's right to knowledge and accuracy in facts. I like to think of myself as a conservative-style version of Clark Kent. I don't expect to be perfect at the job, but I do my best.